Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47J—KITCHEN EQUIPMENT; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; APPARATUS FOR MAKING BEVERAGES
  • A47J19/00—Household machines for straining foodstuffs; Household implements for mashing or straining foodstuffs
  • A47J19/02—Citrus fruit squeezers; Other fruit juice extracting devices
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23N—MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING HARVESTED FRUIT, VEGETABLES OR FLOWER BULBS IN BULK, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PEELING VEGETABLES OR FRUIT IN BULK; APPARATUS FOR PREPARING ANIMAL FEEDING- STUFFS
  • A23N1/00—Machines or apparatus for extracting juice
  • A23N1/02—Machines or apparatus for extracting juice combined with disintegrating or cutting
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47J—KITCHEN EQUIPMENT; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; APPARATUS FOR MAKING BEVERAGES
  • A47J19/00—Household machines for straining foodstuffs; Household implements for mashing or straining foodstuffs
  • A47J19/02—Citrus fruit squeezers; Other fruit juice extracting devices
  • A47J19/025—Citrus fruit squeezers; Other fruit juice extracting devices including a pressing screw

Definitions

• This invention relates to juice extraction device for extracting juice from food, particularly those operate at about 40-300 rounds per minute, or so called “slow juicers” , more particularly so called”vertical masticating juicers”.
• Juice extraction device is a kind of home appliance for extracting juice from food, such as fruit, herbs, leafy greens, vegetable and the like.
• juice extraction devices There are three types of commercial juice extraction devices, namely, (1) centrifugal juicers run at high speed typically above 10,000 RPM; (2) masticating juicers and (3) triturating juicers both types known as slow juicers operated at relatively slow speed in the region of lower hundreds RPM. It is believed that low speed juicing process could avoid oxidation, which could damage or destroy enzymes contained in juice, and thus it is believed that low speed juicing could preserve nutrition and flavor of juice.
• Masticating juicers use a profiled screw style molding to compact and crush fruit and vegetable matters against meshes, allowing juice to flow through the meshes while filtering the fruit and vegetable.
• the current invention is directed to such masticating juicers.
• Masticating juicers can be broadly classified to two major variants based on the mechanical alignment of the profiled screw. These two variants are: (1) the horizontal variant where the profiled screw is aligned horizontally and (2) the vertical variant where the profiled screw is aligned vertically.
• the horizontal profiled screw typically is a helical screw in cylindrical shape whereas the vertical profiled screw is a slanted conical helix screw with an extended cutter blade at the top tip end.
• the two discharge points, for the juice and the residue are generally roughly at the same elevation. The residue is often still juicy with substantial juice contents.
• An object of this invention is to provide a juice extraction device with improved juice extraction efficiency and/or with relatively low manufacturing complexity compared to the same type of the juice extraction devices of the prior art.
• this invention provides a juice extraction device for extracting juice from food which includes:
• ⁇ a hollow juice extraction screw capable of being rotated along an axis and having a food inlet through which said food enters the juice extraction device;
• the food inlet may be unified with the hollow juice extraction screw, or alternatively, the food inlet can be a separate part from the hollow juice extraction screw.
• Food may enter the food inlet from a first end and exits from a second end opposing said first end along a first direction, after which said food is moved along the mesh filter along a second direction opposing said first direction.
• the juice extraction device further includes a food recycling conduit positioned in proximity to said first end for allowing the food to re-enter said food inlet.
• the juice extraction device may further include a residue exit for allowing residue to exit from the juice extraction device and connecting to the food recycling conduit, and a switch for closing at least one of the residue exit and the food recycling conduit.
• the first end may be positioned upward from the second end such that said axis is vertical.
• the juice extraction may further include a juice exit for allowing juice to exit from the juice extraction device, wherein the juice exit is positioned in proximity to said second end.
• the mesh filter has a unified mesh filter bottom at the second end.
• the food inlet may further include at least one blade at said second end. Additionally, at least a portion of said blade can be made of metal for cutting the food.
• inventive concepts may be present from different features or elements or different combinations of features or element described herein.
• inventive concepts may be present from different features or elements or different combinations of features or element described herein.
• the above optional features or elements can be incorporated into any technical solutions of the current invention in any combinations desired.
• Figure 1 shows an exploded view of an exemplary juice extraction device of the present invention
• Figure 2 shows a further exploded view of the juice extraction device of Figure 1 with the exploded view of the juice extraction mechanism
• Figure 3 shows another exploded view of the juice extraction device of Figure 2;
• Figure 4 shows a cross sectional view of the juice extraction device along the lines A-A' in Figure 3;
• Figures 5A&5B show cross sectional view of the juice extraction mechanism with the opening and closing of the switch related to the food recycling exit and the residue exit;
• Figures 6A&6B shows partial cutaway views of the juice extraction mechanism with the opening and closing of the switch related to the food recycling exit and the residue exit without showing the push rod.
• the juice extraction device 100 has juice extraction mechanism 300 for extracting juice from food encompassed by a housing 200.
• the housing 200 has a juice exit 202 from which juice extracted from the food exits, and a residue exit 204 from which remnant remaining after juice extraction exits. Details of the juice extraction mechanism 300 will be described below.
• An optional push rod 400 is shown, and is used to push food into the juice extraction mechanism 300.
• an optional driver housing 500 housing the driver 506 (shown in Figure 4) is provided, which can also be used to provide support to the housing 200 on a flat surface, like table top.
• the driver 506 is optional and the juice extraction device 100 can be driven by hand if desired.
• Optional juice container 502 for holding juice exists from the juice exit 202, and optional residue container 504 for holding reside exits from the residue exit 204 are also shown in Figure 1.
• the juice extraction mechanism 300 has a mesh filter 302 encompassing a hollow juice extraction screw 310.
• the mesh filter 302 is responsible for separating the juice from the food.
• the hollow juice extraction screw 310 is capable of being rotated by the driver 506 connected thereto along the axis Z, and has a food inlet 320 through which food enters the juice extraction device 300, more specifically to reach the mesh filter 302, for which the entrance can be assisted by the optional push rod 400.
• the food inlet 320 is shown and preferred to be a separate part from the hollow juice extraction screw 300 in this particular embodiment.
• the food inlet 320 can be unified with the juice extraction screw 310, but is less preferred as a unified food inlet 320 would have to rotate with the hollow juice extraction screw 300, thus extra load is added to the driver 506 that may reduce juicing efficiency.
• the juice extraction screw 310 is in general cylindrical shape due to simplicity, it is not necessarily so and other shapes can be used, such as wedge shape, as long as it is hollow. Naturally, if the juice extraction screw 310 is of shape different from cylindrical shape, the shapes of the housing 200, the mesh filter 302 and food inlet 320 have to be adjusted accordingly.
• the mesh filter 302 has a mesh filter bottom 304 with spiral protrusions or grooves, for which the protrusions or grooves, as know in the art, are used to"guide"food to move during the juice extraction process when the hollow juice extraction screw 310 rotates.
• the mesh filter bottom 304 may be unified or integrally formed with the mesh filter 302 .
• the mesh filter bottom 304 is provided at the bottom of this preferred embodiment. This is also the end where the juice exit 202 is placed.
• the mesh filter 302 also has a mesh filter alignment hole 306 through which the hollow juice extraction screw 310 connects the driver 506 via a hollow juice extraction screw driver connector 314 .
• the hollow juice extraction screw 310 is shown to have an optional blade 312 at the bottom at the bottom, that is, the end where the juice extraction 202 is placed so as to reduce the total length of the juice extraction mechanism while maintaining the juice extraction efficiency. Placing the blade 312 at the bottom can give extra safety distance to the users in comparison to placing the cutting blade at the top without increasing the overall length of the juice extraction mechanism 300. This can allow the option to use metal blades, which can cut food more efficiently and effectively. In comparison, plastic blade is generally used by currently available vertical masticating juicers due to safety considerations without extending the length of the path of food entrance, that is the length of the hollow juice extraction screw 310, and therefore the height of the juice extraction device 100.
• the second end opposes the first end along a first direction, that is, from the top to the bottom in Figures 1, 2, and 4.
• the food is cut by the blade 312 if such is available, and then reaches at the mesh filter bottom 304.
• As the hollow juice extraction screw 310 rotates food is moved along the mesh filter in a second direction opposing the first direction, that is, upwards in Figures 1, 2, and 4.
• juice is extracted or separated from the food.
• the juice extraction device is preferred to be vertically placed, that is, the hollow juice extraction screw 310 has a vertical axis of rotation.
• the juice exit 202, the mesh filter bottom 304 and the blade 312 are all positioned in proximity to the bottom, that is the second end, of the juice extraction device 100 in Figure 4.
• such placement at bottom may allow collection of more juice due to gravity.
• the mesh filter bottom 304 and the blade 312 such placements can reduce the overall length and therefore the size of the juice extraction device 100 due to reasons explained above.
• Such vertical placement of the juice extraction device 100 also allows an additional advantageous feature of the current invention. Specifically, such vertical placement allows the optional provision of a food recycling conduit 324 to be placed in proximity to the top, that is the first end, of the juice extraction device 100. This is preferred such that food can be recycled relatively easily by movement due to gravity.
• the food recycling conduit 324 is connected to the residue exit 204, and a switch 322 is further provided to close at least one of the residue exit and the food recycling conduit. In Figures 5A and 6A, the switch 322 is opened to the residue exit 204 such that residue can exit from the residue exit 204 without recycling.
• the switch 322 is opened to the food recycling conduit 324 such that food can re-enter the food inlet 320 for recycling.
• closed-loop juice extraction can be achieved.
• the juice extraction device 100 makes use of the volumetric displacement feature of the hollow juice extraction screw 310 and relatively simple re-alignment of the mechanical configuration to achieve residue recycling capability.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Apparatuses For Bulk Treatment Of Fruits And Vegetables And Apparatuses For Preparing Feeds (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (3)

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Family Applications (1)

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• 2014
  • 2014-01-20 HK HK14100598.0A patent/HK1197787A2/xx not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2014-10-29 CN CN201420633451.4U patent/CN204427587U/zh not_active Withdrawn - After Issue
  • 2014-10-29 CN CN201410596987.8A patent/CN104783635B/zh active Active
  • 2014-10-29 EP EP14878748.4A patent/EP3096657B1/de active Active
  • 2014-10-29 AU AU2014378034A patent/AU2014378034B2/en active Active
  • 2014-10-29 WO PCT/CN2014/089816 patent/WO2015106591A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2014-11-20 US US14/548,716 patent/US10470485B2/en active Active
• 2015
  • 2015-01-05 GB GB1500072.2A patent/GB2519248B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2015-05-26 HK HK15104943.3A patent/HK1204536A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

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